A WOMAN has been jailed for sneaking drugs past the guards at HMP Berwyn.

Louisa Susanne Carberry appeared at Mold Crown Court on Wednesday, September 15, where she admitted three charges of attempting to smuggle banned items into the Wrexham-based prison.

The court was told how Carberry, of Stonedale Crescent in Croxteth, Liverpool, had visited the prison on Bonfire Night 2019.

Mr Dafydd Roberts, prosecuting, said the 41-year-old is said to have gone through the security checks before making her way into the visiting area.

In the hall, guards spotted her hugging the inmate – who was not named in court – and they witnessed him reaching into one of her pockets to collect a package.

The prosecutor says this was also captured on CCTV.

The court heard how guards immediately split the pair up and officers recovered the packet.

Inside were three different kinds of drugs – namely a single gram of cocaine, almost a gram of heroin and nearly 100g of cannabis.

In total, the court heard this had an estimated value of about £1,150.

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Carberry was caught red handed with a drug package at HMP Berwyn in Wrexham.

Carberry was arrested and interviewed about the find – during which she made no comments.

The court was told that this is not Carberry’s first time before the courts having been found slipping drugs past prison guards.

Back in 2015, she was found bringing a package of cannabis into HMP Liverpool and was jailed for a year. Later, in 2018, she was caught smuggling a mobile phone into HMP Manchester.

Julian Nutter, defending, said Carberry has unfortunately found herself ‘mixing with the wrong crowd’.

He says that the individual she was sneaking drugs to was ‘horribly coercive’ towards her.

Mr Nutter acknowledged that custody may be the judge’s only option due to Carberry’s history of offending in this way – but asked her to consider the fact that she has made major changes to her life between then and now.

He says that Carberry moved away from the area that was ‘destroying her life’ and has managed to find a healthy and stable relationship. She has also been working to tackle her drug addictions since last July.

Custody was the only option said Judge Nicola Jones who sentenced her to 19 months in prison.

Judge Jones told Carberry: “Drugs like this become a currency within the prison system. They are used to extort and bully and the evil they bring within prisons is far worse then the evil they put on open society.”

“There is no doubt in my mind that there was an element of coercion in this case for you to bring those items into the prison that day.

“On both occasions when you have done this previously it was all for a man that was controlling you. It is a shame this reach was able to extend beyond the prison walls and outside world.

“I am pleased to hear you have been abstaining from criminal offences, harmful drugs and controlling men since this offence took place.

“We can’t ignore the fact that you’ve been here before – twice now. So, it has to be immediate custody. I wish you the best in your continued rehabilitation.”

Judge Jones ordered that the drugs found on that day should be destroyed.